Fritillaria affinis

(Schultes & Schultes f.) Sealy

Hooker’s Icon. Pl. 39: 239. 1980.

Common names: Checker-lily
IllustratedEndemic
Basionym: Lilium affine Schultes & Schultes f. in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 7(1): 400. 1829
Synonyms: Fritillaria lanceolata Pursh Fritillaria lanceolata var. gracilis S. Watson Fritillaria lanceolata var. tristulis A. L. Grant Fritillaria multiflora Torrey Fritillaria mutica Purdy Fritillaria parviflora Fritillaria phaeanthera
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 166. Mentioned on page 162, 165, 169, 170, 171.

Bulb scales: large 2–5; small 2–20 when tepals mottled, 50 or more when tepals unmottled. Stem 1–12 dm. Leaves in 1–4 whorls of 2–8 per node proximally, alternate distally, 4–16 cm, usually shorter than inflorescence; blade linear-lanceolate to ovate; distal leaves usually equaling proximalmost leaf. Flowers nodding, odor not unpleasant; tepals brownish purple to pale yellowish green, clearly mottled yellow or purple, or unmottled, oblong to ovate, 1–4 cm, apex not recurved; nectaries yellow, dotted purple, lanceolate, 1/2–2/3 tepal length; style obviously branched for 1/2 its length, branches longer than 1.5 mm. Capsules widely winged. 2n = 24, 36, 48.


Phenology: Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat: Oak or pine scrub, grasslands
Elevation: 0–1800 m

Distribution

V26 279-distribution-map.jpg

B.C., Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.

Discussion

Fritillaria affinis has one of the broadest geographical distributions of all the North American species of the genus. It is also highly variable, which has resulted in the naming of several supposedly distinct species as well as some infraspecific taxa, all but one of which are in fact only poorly differentiated, and all of which are treated here as synonyms. Among the latter, F. lanceolata var. tristulis may actually merit formal recognition as a variety, but the new combination under F. affinis remains to be made. This entity is restricted to coastal grassland in Marin County, California, and has a perianth that is scarcely if at all mottled, and more than 50 small bulb scales.

Fritillaria affinis has long been known by the name F. lanceolata, which is illegitimate because when Pursh described it, he cited Lilium camschatcense (= F. camschatcensis) as a synonym but did not adopt that epithet. Actually, his synonymic reference was based on a misidentification, even though he stated that an illustration of L. camschatcense from a specimen in Pallas’ herbarium was “an excellent figure” of his F. lanceolata.

Fritillaria affinis has been known to hybridize with F. recurva.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Fritillaria affinis"
Bryan Ness +
(Schultes & Schultes f.) Sealy +
Lilium affine +
Checker-lily +
B.C. +, Calif. +, Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +  and Wash. +
0–1800 m +
Oak or pine scrub, grasslands +
Flowering Mar–Jun. +
Hooker’s Icon. Pl. +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
Fritillaria lanceolata +, Fritillaria lanceolata var. gracilis +, Fritillaria lanceolata var. tristulis +, Fritillaria multiflora +, Fritillaria mutica +, Fritillaria parviflora +  and Fritillaria phaeanthera +
Fritillaria affinis +
Fritillaria +
species +